


Uranium Freezer

by jerwikwrites



Category: Fallout (Video Games), Fallout 4
Genre: Angst, Canon-Typical Violence, Death, Depression, Drug Use, Gore, M/M, Mild Sexual Content, Not Canon Compliant, Slow Burn, Suicidal Thoughts, Swearing
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-07-21
Updated: 2017-07-30
Packaged: 2018-11-29 04:22:15
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 9,155
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11433069
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jerwikwrites/pseuds/jerwikwrites
Summary: Lewis is thrown into a completely different world, yet somehow it's exactly the same.  His son was taken, along with his wife's life. What was given, well, was a promise. Lewis doesn't have a choice, he must save his son (and inevitably, everyone else along the way). He finds that company is nice to have.





	1. Prologue

**Author's Note:**

> yeah so due to actual crippling depression i have neglected this for like a year and therefore will be making a few changes um screw the unbearably cheesy summary i am working on it by thinking about it at night thanks by the way the first two chapters are kind of shit but theyre also kind of ok

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Happy. So happy. A beautiful wife, an equally beautiful child, a beautiful home, a hard-working robot, what else to ask for? Protection, right? Some man in a tan suit comes to the door, and offers the one thing they need. Sadly, George now knows they needed that more than they thought.

"You're gonna knock 'em dead at the veterans hall tonight, Hun." Nora mused, stepping into the washroom. She flung her arm around Lewis, and leaned in to kiss his freshly shaved cheek lazily.

"You think?" He replied, smirking as he pulled his shoulder-length, brilliantly dark curly hair into a tight ponytail.

"Absolutely. Though it would help if you could see your script," she chuckled, reaching for his glasses that had fallen onto the sink. She gently slid them back onto the bridge of his nose. "Well, assuming you don't have it memorized." She smiled up at him, a familiar light in her dark eyes. Oh, how he loved her smile. The way her cheeks lifted, her dimples, the barely visible creases at the ends of her eyes on amber skin. The look of happiness, on someone he loved so dearly.

"Ah, you got me. Never been one to remember, have I?" His eyes traveled to her short, clean though messy brown hair.

"Nope. Now, unless you've got something against coffee, I suggest you dance your handsome mug to the kitchen."

"I do, actually. More of a tea person." He winked, and slid out of the bathroom door, closing it behind him.

"Ah, good morning sir! Your coffee, 173.5 degrees Fahrenheit. Brewed to perfection!" Codsworth delightedly announced.

"And today's newspaper, just delivered!"

"Thanks, pal."

"Of course, sir!" And with that, he hovered away to the sink. Lewis had always found robots fascinating. The way something so metallic could prove so _humane_ \- one of the very reasons Lewis had grown very fond of Codsworth. Lewis half-fell onto the bright red couch, barely keeping his coffee in the cup as Nora walked into the living room, taking a seat beside him.

"Too hot?" Nora asked.

"Just ri-" Lewis was cut off by a whine from their baby, Shaun. Nora had went to get up, but Codsworth assured her that he could attend to Shaun, for the time being.

"You know, I was nervous at first, but Codsworth's really good with Shaun," chuckled Nora.

"Totally. We should give him a raise,"

"The thing is, my dear sweet Lewis, we don't actually _pay_ Codsworth."

"So what! Maybe some high quality oil for the gears, or something. That'll crack him a smile, I'm almost sure of it!" Lewis joked, playfully elbowing Nora in the side.

"Yeah, maybe on the inside." Nora's attention then focused on the News, which was broadcasting something about weather, and Lewis' on his coffee. A long moment passed, then the doorbell rung. GLewis sighed and rolled his eyes, _stupid salesman_.

"Your turn." And Lewis, however reluctantly, pushed himself up and fumbled over to the door. As soon as opening it, on queue, the man stepped forward. He had the regular clean, tan suit with matching hat. Though this time, he had a rather strained smile and a different coloured billboard.

"Good morning! Vault-Tec calling!" He announced, and looked at Lewis in an expectant manner.

"Good morning."

"Isn't it? Just look at that sky out there," the man cleared his throat. "You can't begin to know how happy I am to speak with you-I've been trying for days-it's a matter of utmost urgency, I assure you!" He ended with a slight pleading tone.

"Of course, well, I'm here now."

"So you are, so you are... now I know you're a busy fellow, so I won't take up much of your time. Time being a... how to put this, a precious commodity!" Lewis' eyes narrowed, "I'm here to tell you, that because of your family's service to our country, you have been pre-selected for entrance into the local vault!" The man cleared his throat again, before declaring the next few words dramatically, " _Vault 111_."

"But there's room for my entire family, right?"

"Of course, of course! Minus your robot, naturally. In fact, you're already cleared for entrance! It's just a matter of verifying some information." And he forced the smile again. "Don't want there to be any hold ups, in the event of, ahem, _total atomic annihilation_! Won't take but a moment." He ended his speech with a rather rough voice, but Lewis was focused on the fact that Codsworth was denied entry. He would speak to the robot about it, soon.

"Right. Can't wait for the world to end."

"That's the spirit, now let's see... first and last name?"

"Lewis Evans,"

"Good, good... and your wife's?"

"Nora Evans,"

"Mmhm... and your infant?"

"Shaun Evans."

"Wonderful, that's everything. I'm just gonna... walk this over to the vault. Congratulations on being prepared for the future!" The man actually closed the door on himself, with that. Lewis sighed.

"Hey, it's peace of mind. That's worth some paperwork, right?" Nora said, a slight mumble to her tone.

"For you and Shaun, no price is too high." Lewis added some hand gestures, for good measure- which earned a small laugh from Nora,

"Good answer." Lewis had just about sat down again when Shaun started crying, again.

"Sir, Shaun has been changed, but he absolutely refuses to calm down! I think he requires some of that "paternal affection" you seem to be so good at," Codsworth piped up from the hallway. Lewis frowned. He really, _really_ needed to talk to Codsworth about the vault-

"Go on, hun, I'll come in a minute." Nora's voice was a little push to Shaun's room, and Lewis couldn't help but feel a twinge of guilt as he passed the robot in the hallway. Though when he got to Shaun, it was entirely pushed away. He reached over the crib to hold his tiny baby's hand, and murmured softly,

"Hello, Shaun. It's alright, you're alright." Shaun stopped crying almost immediately, and mocked Lewis' smile. Lewis admired how his son's eyes mirrored his own, the dark almost-hazel. He had the beginnings of his mother's skin, and beautifully long eyelashes. He almost didn't notice Nora stepping in.

"And how are the two most important men in my life doing?" She asked, and when Lews turned, he could see she was leaning against the doorway. He liked the sight.

" _Wonderfully_ , though it's hard to tell on this one's behalf." He smiled again, down at Shaun.

"Spin the mobile. It should be fixed up, by now." Lewis obeyed, and just loved the way Shaun stared at the little spinning rockets in amazement. Nora was gently saying some words to Shaun, then turned to Lewis with the wisp of an idea on her lips,

"Listen, after breakfast, I was thinking we could head to the park for a bit. Show Shaun around, try the swings." Lewis smirked at the idea, remembering a trip to the park with Nora, just under a year and a half ago- it ultimately ended with, well, Shaun.

"Will it be like that trip to the park a year ago?" Nora had opened her mouth to either retort or reply with something equally retort-worthy, when Codsworth called from the living room,

"Sir? Mum? You should come and see this!" The fear in his voice left an empty pit in Lewis' stomach, and he looked at Nora with the calmest eyes he could manage. She just nodded, and they speed-walked to the living room. On the television screen was the News man, speaking in a low, grave voice.

 _"-followed by- yes, followed by flashes, and sounds of explosions. We're- we're trying to get conformation._ " Lewis spaced out for a second, processing those words too quickly to actually make sense of them. The next words he did understand were, " _-confirmed reports of nuclear detonation in New York and Pennsylvania._ " The next, more of a gasp than a clear sentence, " _My God..._ " and the television screen switched to the "Please wait..." channel. The pit in his stomach filled with the sensation of falling, of worry, of solid fear.

_Nora._

He looked to Nora, and mumbled the first thing that made sense,

" _Shaun._ " Nora nodded again and quickly made off to Shaun's room. Suddenly his head cleared.

_Codsworth._

He turned to the robot to the right of him, and tried to stammer out every word he could think as the sirens sounded.

"Codsworth- I'm sorry- _so sorry_ \- vault- robot- so sorry- _thank you-_ " his eyes were welling with tears.

"Oh _dear_ , Sir, it's quite okay-" Nora dashed into the room, yelled,

"Let's go! _We have to go, Lewis!_ " She grabbed his arm with a surprising strength and yanked him towards the door, a broken "Stay safe-" directed at Codsworth yelped quickly. Nora opened the door and half dragged a disoriented Lewis through it, yelling,

"Where's the vault? Does anyone know the direction of the vault?" Lewis looked to the right of their street, saw someone running down it, and take a right to the bridge. Nora must've noticed them too, because before he could say anything he was being tugged where he was looking. A second later he remembered the fences, with banners advertising the Vault up the hill. He knew the way, _they could make it._

"Nora! It's up the hill!" At that, after pulling him halfway up the street, she let go of his arm and let him lead. He turned into the dirt pathway to the right, followed it to the bridge where a couple were packing their things frantically into a suitcase.

"Sorry," he yelled to them, now running across the bridge with Nora on his heels. It was a five second run up the pathway, when he came to the check in: a gate with a wired fence on either side of it, a vault-Tec employee standing in the middle with a clipboard, someone in polished power armour and a scary-looking minigun at the ready. There was the giant billboard advertising the vault to the right, and also about twenty people lined up at the gate, including the man in the tan suit.

"You have to let me in! I _am_ Vault-Tec!" He was yelling.

"Back away, Sir."

"I'm going in! You can't stop me-" the minigun started spinning, "Woah there! Alright!" The man in the suit quickly backed away, with his hands continuing to stay up. Lewis pushed passed a few people until he stood directly in front of the man holding the clipboard.

"We need to get in! We're on the list!"

"Name?"

"Lewis, Nora and Shaun Evans!" The man looked down at his list, found their names.

"OK, go ahead." He stood aside, and Lewis passed with a rushed "Thank you!" from Nora. After that, a man in a blue uniform ran in front of them saying,

"You two! Follow me to the vault!" As they were, Nora had to ask,

"What's going to happen to those people outside of the gate?"

"We're doing everything we can, keep moving!" Lewis doubted this, but was glad at least his wife and son were safe from harm. He was sure there other ways to survive, without the vault, and that not everyone would die. The thought calmed him less than it should have. They ran in a sort of half circle to the top of the hill, on which what looked like the Vault entrance was placed.

"Stand on the platform, on the centre with the others!" Lewis made sure Nora got on before him, and stood beside her as they waited for something to happen: entrance into the Vault, or the end of the world. It was because of this that he held her, whispered softly to her,

" _We made it. It's okay,_ " and looked over the trees, leaves a mix of orange, yellow and green in the fall. The sun, not very high in the sky in the early morning, uncovered by clouds. Sanctuary, were Codsworth was, hovering and probably worrying if they _did_ make it.

"I love you, both of you."

"We love you too-" and there it was, a tiny dot dropped into the ground, and a ball of light and fire erupting from the spot, quick as a blink. Lewis immediately stepped in front of Nora and Shaun, to shield them, away from the future, the fire, the _death_. A wave of force hit them just as quickly, pushing Lewis almost to his knees. He pushed his nose into his hand to help filter the air. The huge explosion was only growing, sending rings of fiery light into the- now grey- sky. It was a magnificent, yet terrible sight- even more so because _they weren't moving_. Just as soon as the thought went by, the platform they were standing on started to descend at an alarming speed. Another huge wave of force crashed over their heads, managing to now push Lewis hard to his knees. He looked up as the sky turned a bloody red, realizing the world was on its way to ending. The vault doors closed shut, and left those on the elevator in darkness, fearful of what came next. Lewis blinked, and blinked again. 

"Nora?" He whispered, feeling for any part of her body, for assurance that she wasn't somehow blown away to the surface. A familiar, warm hand placed in his hair ripped an exhausted and relieved sigh from him.

"I'm here," she whispered back. "So is Shaun." He took the hand in his, kissing it. He then became aware of others in the space with them, listened to their own relieved exchanges. He stayed in that position until artificial light filled the elevator. He stood up, and moved beside Nora as their descent came to a stop. The blue screen in front of them was lifted up, and a guard on the other side told them to proceed off the platform in an orderly fashion. Another man was talking as people started filtering out of the platform, but Lewis didn't pay much attention. All he heard was "Vault", "underground", and "up the stairs". All he knew was to follow Nora. Nora always knew what to do, how to help. He loved that about her. He walked closely behind her, up the stairs and through the metal detector. A lady in a blue suit handed Nora and Lewis suits of their own, and told them to follow another Vault-Tec representative. He looked like a doctor. He led them down a long hallway, and into a room small room, which he told Nora to enter first. He closed the door behind her, but Lewis had spaced out on why he had done that.

"Now, if you'll just follow me across the hall here, this is where you may change. Take as long as you need, we're not in much of a hurry." The man said, and opened a sliding door with the click of a button, which Lewis stepped into. It was a small room, about the size of a washroom. Lewis almost forgot what to do, but looked down at the vault suit in his hands.

_Oh._

He stripped down to his underwear and socks, placing his glasses on a nearby bench. He decided to take his socks off too, since they were dirty. He hadn't had time to slip on shoes in the rush they were in, to get to the vault. The suit was a little tight after zipping up, but it was still rather comfortable. Not knowing what to do with his clothing, he pushed them under the bench on the side of the room, deciding to fetch them later. When standing up, he hit his head on a plastic box that was hanging on the wall. In fine print, on the front it said;

    COMPLEMENTARY SOCKS

Looking down at his bare feet, he pulled a pair out of the bottom of the box. They had the same, stretchy material as the vault suit, and they were also blue. Pulling them on, he walked over to the door and pushed the button that said "Open door", and found Nora, in her own vault suit, waiting for him in the hallway. Looking at him, she asked,

"Ready?" Which Lewis nodded to slowly. It felt weird to hear her voice, so clear. To understand every word, even if it was just one. Lewis guessed it was Nora that enabled him to hear anything at all, and stuck with following her down the rest of the hall. She led him into a blue, chilly room filled with what looked like human-sized pods. Another guard directed them to the end of the room, where two empty pods were sitting opposite each other. Apparently they were to step in one, for "de-sterilization purposes". Lewis didn't like the idea, but he figured he should get used to it. It was a vault, after all. He was looking the pod over, waiting for instructions when Shaun started crying. He turned around, and looked at Nora with sad eyes. Took Shaun's hand in his, told them both,

"Everything's going to be okay. Amazing, even. Just a few minutes in these pods, then we'll be back together. Okay, Shaun? Okay." He kissed his baby's head, and Nora's after. Smiled at her, kissed her again.

"See you soon. I'll take Shaun," she added. Lewis nodded. Noticing that the other residents were sitting in their pods, Lewis took a seat in his own, and watched Nora do the same. At once, the door to the pod closed him in. He focused on Nora, the way she was holding Shaun, the colour of her hair. He drowned out every noise, every ounce of his sense directed to her. She rested her hand on the glass in front of her, looked him in the eye. He did the same, but smiled at her with all the warmth he could give. _This is our home now,_ he thought. Suddenly, it became very cold. The glass around his hand had frost forming around the frame. Lewis looked up in alarm, Nora holding Shaun closer to her. As he was loosing the ability to move, he last registered the sight of her mouthing something to Shaun,

 _I love you._  

 

_

 

Cold. So _cold_. Lewis' awakening consciousness brought him to see only white, and feel the cold. A moment later, he could feel himself breathing, he could hear it.

 _Where am I?_ , something deep inside him asked.

 _Vault,_ was the answer.

Then it came back to him. Nora, Shaun. The bomb, Sanctuary. Codsworth. His socks. The vault. He let out a shaky breath. A blue, slightly fuzzy image was producing in front of him. No, _around_ him. He slowly blinked some of the fuzziness away, and heard a distant female voice.

 _Nora. Shaun_.

He felt his hand on the glass in front of him, and slowly pulled it away. It left a clear print, the shape of his hand, one he could see through with ease. He looked at Nora, saw her breath fog on the glass.

_She's awake._

He became slightly more aware of his surroundings. He blinked again, and looked around. Looked back at Nora, to see someone in a white suit pointing at Nora's pod.

"This is the one," the figure said, "here." Another figure stepped into sight, though Lewis could see its head. Bald, in dark armour. Walked slowly. Intimidating.

"Open it." The figure said, his voice deep and demanding. The sides of Nora's pod let out gusts of gas, and the door lifted up. Nora began coughing, breathing heavily.

"Is it over? Are we okay?" She gasped. The first figure was edging nervously closer to her. Lewis' stomach filled with unease.

"Almost. Everything's gonna be fine." Said the second figure, a man. The first figure's hands were now gripping a crying Shaun, saying,

"Come here, hand him over." Nora pulled the baby back towards her,

"No, I've got him." The second figure, he pulled out a _gun_. Lewis started banging on the glass, had to get someone's attention, off of Nora, off of Shaun.

_Shoot me, please, shoot me instead,_

He was yelling, yet it wasn't audible.

 _Please, please... not Shaun, not Nora..._  

"Let the boy go. I'm only gonna tell you once." The man threatened.

_Please, please, give Shaun to me..._

" _I'm not giving you Shaun!_ " Nora looked straight into a yelling Lewis' eyes, didn't let go of Shaun.

_Nora, it's okay, it'll be okay, give them Shaun, they'll get him either way, we'll find him, Nora, please, they'll kill you-_

A shot to Nora's chest left her hands limp, eyes closed and head tilted back. Lewis slowly emptied his lungs. The first figure had torn Shaun away, and could do whatever they wanted to him.

Nora was dead. _Dead._

Shaun was about to be taken away, he knew it.

"Goddamnit! Get the kid out of here, and let's go," growled the second figure. Nora's pod closed, and Shaun was taken from Lewis' vision. Lewis felt nothing. _Couldn't_. At least, until the second figure stepped as close as he possibly could to the glass. Lewis felt nothing but anger then, got up close to the glass and pounded it with both fists.

 _I'll kill you. I'll fucking kill you._ He hissed, still not audible.

"At least we still have the back up." The second figure chuckled, leaned back and walked away. Lewis felt the sensation of freezing, once again. This time, with the look of anger on his face, hands crumpled into fists.

 

 

_

 

 

He awoke quicker this time, registering the need to cough before he could see anything. He coughed until he saw Nora, _dead_ , without Shaun, and remembered why his hands were extremely sore. Uncurling his fists, he saw on both hands, four small, bloody fingernail marks. He felt the cold soon after. The rage, then the sorrow. Deep sorrow, _uncontainable_ sorrow. He needed to scream, but in here, in the small pod, he could not do that. He punched the door, and by some miracle, it opened. He watched the gas gust out like Nora's did, and waited a moment. Got whatever strength he had in him together, and grabbed the side of the pod. Pulled himself out, but once on one foot, fell to his knees. He stayed there for a minute, once again regaining his strength. Just breathing, dealing with the physical rather than the mental. After he felt he was ready, he pushed himself onto just his hands and feet. Waited there a couple seconds, then pushed up to just his feet. His breathing was shaky, but that wasn't his concern.

 _Nora_.

It was here that he could see her, again, _dead_. After a second, something in him just... clicked. He stumbled over to her pod, pressed his hands to the glass.

" _Nora!_ " He hit the glass, willing it to open. "There has to be a release!"

To the right, there was a small control panel complete with a red switch. Hands shaking, he reached for the switch, and slowly pulled it up. Her pod door lifted, revealing her frozen, dead body. He moved to the front of her, taking in the sight. The shot wound was spot on, right in the middle of her chest. The blood had frozen. He reached out for her arm, but when he touched it, he almost leaped back in shock. She was so cold. It burned his fingertips. He looked at her wedding ring, how it looked almost white in the frost. He needed it. He quickly, using two fingers, pulled it off of her own. It burned again, but he didn't care. After getting it off, he pushed it into the crease of his elbow, the lack of heat unbearable.

_Shaun._

He needed to find Shaun. He needed out of the Vault, had to leave Nora. The thought of it was... foreign to him. With a last look at Nora, he rolled the cold ring into his sock, with lack of a better pocket. He placed his hand on the red leaver, and pulled it back down.

"I find who did this, and I'll get Shaun back. _I_ _promise_." He mumbled to her, and turned to jog down the hallway. He didn't remember much of how to get back out, but he was sure he could find his way. He pushed the button on the first door he came in contact to. It slid up, out of sight. George remembered just to go straight, and so he followed the hallway to the last door. However, when he pressed the button, the door did not open. He cursed, but to the left he found a screwdriver. He remembered Nora teaching him how to pick locks, and decided it was worth taking. After that, he decided to go to the door closest to the one down the hallway. It opened, and led down some stairs and a big window. On the window was a-

_What?_

Lewis yelped in surprise. It was a cockroach the size of a platter.

"What the _hell_." Lewis mumbled, turning to the room on the right, hoping for supplies. He didn't find much, but he did find a stimpak and a useless terminal. Deciding he couldn't push it off any longer, he opened the sliding door with a hope that it wouldn't lead to where the giant bug resided. Much to his horror, it didn't lead to that, but in fact another room, which had its own.

 _So it's filled with roaches. Great._ He stomped it down, disgusted as he was only wearing socks. The next room had virtually nothing, but he did find a Red Menace holotape in another old terminal. With a sigh, he entered the next room, now knowing the roaches were easy to kill. This room had not one, but two roaches. One of them actually flew at him, but Lewis managed to stab it with his screwdriver. Close to the door, Lewis found a skeleton, which didn't have any shoes, so Lewis wandered on. The next room had a few more stimpaks, a gun, some bullets, a small bag, which he shoved all his stuff in. He pushed his slipping glasses and continued to the next room. There were a few more things; bullets, a weird-looking gun, another pistol, some cigarettes, and long behold, boots that loosely fit. He pulled them on, and shuffled over to the sliding door. The thing is, this door didn't actually have a button to press, and George's shoulders slumped in stress.

 _Wait,_ he looked over, remembering something he saw.

_Terminals open doors._

Practically skipping to the terminal, he turned it on, and clicked the option that said, "Open Evacuation Tunnel". He didn't care for much else, at the moment. Just wanted Shaun. After clicking enter, and watching the door slide up, he drew his gun and proceeded through the Vault. After only being through the door about three seconds, about five huge roaches were in his way. He wasn't as unnerved as before, now carrying a gun and boots, but the sight of huge bugs was never exactly appealing. He shot them down hastily, continued on. The last room was something vaguely familiar. A big, gear shaped door was waiting to be opened. After stomping down another roach, George headed straight for what looked like a control panel. After staring for a moment, he pressed the big red button with a shaky hand. Two aggressive beeps responded, and a female voice that said something about a pip boy. In anger, he tried again, this time just the beeps responding. He buried his face in his hands, thinking over how he was supposed to get the door open. He looked around the room, noticing the ventilation. _Vents._ He could crawl through the vents, hope they led somewhere useful. He took a step back, about to ready himself for a jump at the vent, when he stepped on some piece of metal and slipped backwards, hitting his head on the control panel. The two beeps sounded again. He pushed his glasses up, and rubbed his head with a slight scowl. Out of curiosity, he looked at whatever it was that he slipped on.

 _Oh, fuck me_.

A _fucking pip boy_ is what he slipped on. He picked it up, looked it over, and strapped it to his arm, pressing the power button. It took about twenty seconds to load the screen, and when it did, George felt a spark of hope somewhere under the denial. Playing with the switches on the side of the pip boy, he familiarized himself with the object. Noticing the empty radio option, he remembered Shaun's favourite lullaby, and suddenly felt determined as all hell to get out of the Vault. After a minute of figuring out how the pip boy helped open the door, he pressed the red button for the last time, and let out a huge sigh of relief, for it worked. The door was rolled out of the way, and George walked into the elevator room. Took in a deep breath, and stepped onto the platform. It seemed to sense his weight, for it slowly ascended after a second, picking up speed after a moment. George looked up, into the darkness. The anxiety of finally reaching the surface crept into his head, along with thoughts of Nora. The last time he was on this platform, she was with him, his lips on her warm hand. The same hand now frozen, ring-less and limp. He couldn't deny it further,

she was dead, _Nora was dead_.

All the weakness that had been pushed down exploded inside of him, buckling his knees and pulling his breath. He pulled himself into a fetal position, holding his knees as close to his face as possible. And he just _cried_. He cried, screamed, clawed his face, pulled his hair, punched the ground. Though no matter what, it seemed, he couldn't cry out the growing, maddening, sorrowful pain in his stomach.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I thought up SO many ideas while writing this and I'm so excited to kick off the story. It's going to be a slow burn but (hopefully) a keeping-readers-on-their-toes kind of slow burn, y'know? I tagged a lot to get this noticed, so sorry if it looks a little messy at the beginning. I haven't really written work for the public (I'm new to archive), so if anyone has any tips on the "notice me" part of publication, lemme know! Also, if you have any ideas/want something written, be sure to leave that in the comments as well. Annnnnd thank you, 1thousandminus7, for inspiring me to write something like this. If you guys like the idea of M!SS/MacCready, I would definitely check out their work, "Just for Caps". Alright, well, can't wait for someone to read this. Thanks if you did!!!!!!


	2. Maybe if you Stopped Fainting

The elevator ride was too short. As the gear door cracked open, Lewis hastily shielded his burning eyes from the blinding white light of the sun, crawling to his knees. Abandoning the attempt, he just closed his eyes, tilted his head down. He was suddenly very aware of how scared he was, of what awaited him at the surface. He wasn't sure what to expect. As the elevator came to a stop, he wiped his still-closed eyes on the back of his sleeve.

_3... 2... 1..._

He opened both his eyes, allowing them a moment to adjust.

 "Oh- _oh my god_ ," He gasped, looking around at the bright landscape. The trees, leaves blasted off and bark withered. The metal around him, rusted but still intact, probably untouched since he last saw it- save for whoever took Shaun. The debris, littered over most surfaces. The sky, same as it was before the bomb, a magnificent blue splotched with white wisps. Despite the change, somehow it all fit, each feature contributing to a more overall beautiful picture. He blinked, a flicker of hope sparking in his chest. 

_Shaun's here somewhere._

With that small thought, motivation began running its course. Lewis pushed himself to his feet, throwing his bag over his shoulder. He looked over to Sanctuary, a pang of nostalgia jumping in with his once again suppressed emotions. He decided it was worth a look, to pick up possible supplies, maybe get some rest before heading in a virtually random direction. With a sigh, he began moving, sliding over rocks and fallen trees, and splashing through the, now much smaller, stream. Once on the dirt trail to the old neighbourhood, Lewis pulled out his 10mm, falling back on his military training to help guide him through what little stealth he'd need. He took a deep breath in, and stepped onto the main street, having already checked behind him. He turned his focus to his old home, and gave a little jump after noticing movement. He dropped into a crouch, shuffling to the side of the street for whatever cover he could get. After taking little more than five steps, he lowered his gun, his jaw dropping in awe. 

"CODSWORTH! _CODSWORTH!_ " 

And he was running, almost colliding with the robot in the haze of surprise and joy. 

"As I live and _breathe!_ It's you, it's _really_ you!" Codsworth's eyes widened, clearly equally astonished at the encounter. 

"Codsworth! You're still here!" Lewis panted, exhaustion slowly catching up with him. "What a joy it is to see you!" 

"Well of _course_ I'm still here! Surely you didn't think a little- _radiation_  would deter the pride of General Atomics International?" It was then that Lewis noticed that Codsworth himself had rusted over, his usual clean shine withered away with everything else. "But you seem worse for wear. Best not let the wife see you in that state! Where is the missus, by the way?" Lewis swallowed, smile slowly fading from his face. A huge wave of sheer fatigue washed over him then, and he slightly swayed, but kept himself together. 

"She's- they killed her, Codsworth. Her body, it's still in the Vault." It was as if someone else had taken him over, his calm words unmatching the piled emotions that screamed when she was mentioned. 

"Sir, these things you're saying, these terrible things, I- I believe you need a distraction. Yes! A distraction, to calm this dire mood." His speech was quicker now, hard to pick up on, but there. "It's been ages since we've had a proper family activity. Checkers, or perhaps charades! Shaun does love that game... is the lad, er, with you?" 

_"He's not dead too, is he?"_

"The- the people who killed Nora, they kidnapped him," he stammered out, blinking a few times as eyes began to water. He needed to rest.

"It's worse than I thought! You're suffering from hunger-induced paranoia. Not eating properly for two-hundred years will do that, I'm afraid." Lewis spaced out for a second,

"Sorry, _two-hundred years?_ Did I hear you right?"

"A bit over two-hundred ten, actually. Give or take a little, with the earth's rotation-" Lewis spaced out again, the next words vaguely drowned out. "- two centuries late for dinner! Perhaps I can whip you up a snack? You must be famished!" The robot chuckled, but Lewis came back to himself. However robotic he was, Codsworth couldn't hold from him the denial in his voice. 

" _Two centuries_ , Codsworth. Are you okay?"

"I- I-" Lewis tensed. "Oh _sir_ , it's been just _horrible!_ Two centuries with no one to talk to, no one to serve!" He thought about reaching an arm out to the robot, but instead thought better of it. "I spent the first _ten years_  trying to keep the floors waxed, but _nothing_  gets out nuclear fallout, _nothing!_ " Lewis flinched, "And don't even get me started on the futility of dusting a collapsed house! _And the car! The car! How do you polish rust?_ "

"Stay with me, Cod."

"I'm afraid I don't know anything, sir. The bombs came, and you all left in such a hurry! I thought for certain that you and your family were- _dead_! Oh, do give me a moment, sir." And he hovered off into the house, coming back a moment later with a small holotape in one of his arms. "I did find this holotape, sir. I- I believe the missus was going to present it to you, as a surprise. But then, well, everything happened!" Lewis looked down at the tape being held in front of him, and took it gingerly into his palm. He allowed a tear to leak from his eye, which splashed onto the small object. Not looking up, he mumbled as loud as he could manage with the tape in his hand,

"Thank you very much, Codsworth." 

"You're- you're welcome," Codsworth sniffed, even with lack of a nose. "Now! Enough feeling sorry for myself. Shall we search the neighbourhood together? The missus and young Shaun may turn up yet!" He announced, gently. 

"Alright, lead the way." 

"Proud to serve, sir!" Codsworth sped along, Lewis almost sprinting to keep up with him.

Lewis soon discovered that there were infact more mutated insects, gagging when a huge, revolting black fly spat at his leg. He also noted that Codsworth, however kind and saint-like he was, turned complete psychopath when engaged in combat. It was rather amusing to see, as they cleared out most of the houses in Sanctuary. After the last house was free of insects, Codsworth flicked his eyes around to Lewis.

"Sir, your family isn't here," The robot mumbled, an edge of a sob to his voice. "They're- they're really gone, aren't they?" Lewis recognized his turn to comfort.

"Just Nora, Codsworth. Shaun's still out there. I- I can find him, I'm sure of it." Lewis looked down at his boots, something to occupy himself.

"What about Concord, sir? Plenty of people there." Lewis immediately looked up, focusing straight into his middle eye. "And last I checked, they only pumbled me with rocks and sticks a few times, before I had to run back home." 

"People in Concord? Oh my, I like them _already._ " He joked, enough hope in him now to fly across all of Boston, flipping over every rock in sight for clues of his son's location. 

"Yes! You remember how to get there still, I presume? Just over the bridge, and a block away from the Red Rocket station." Lewis nodded, "I will stay here and secure Sanctuary for the time being!" With that, Lewis stretched his arms, reloaded his gun, and started off to the bridge away from Sanctuary.

Once at a trash bin, at the start of the bridge, he went to deposit one of his socks, since it felt wet and a little mushy after stomping on more than one roach. When opening it, he was astonished to see a few fragmentation grenades, where the garbage should've been. Taking them both and throwing them in his pack, he wandered over the bridge. At the end was a dead man, probably killed by the weird-looking rodent at his side. Deciding to be resourceful, he turned the man over, searching his pockets for something useful. He found a few .38 rounds and a pipe pistol, a couple stimpacks and a huge bag full to the brim with- _bottle caps?_ He ended up taking it all, thinking the caps could be worth something, since this man had so many. He ended up just taking his jacket, though the dirty dark brown collided awfully with his bright blue vault suit.

He was almost ready to take a break at the Red Rocket truck stop, legs aching and migraine pounding against his scull, when a loud bark left him fumbling for his gun and turning in all directions. Since his hands were shaking so much, he dropped his gun, and turned around to see a beautiful german shepherd happily trotting over to him, no sense of aggression anywhere in its actions. Lewis sighed in relief, and bent down to hold his hand out for the dog.

"Hey, boy! What're you doing out here, alone?" The dog gave a playful bark, and pushed it's head into Lewis' hand. Scratching behind his ears, Lewis replied,"You wanna tag along?" The dog yelped again, giving Lewis an affectionate lick on the cheek. "Okay," He chuckled. The dog pulled away from him, and began to set a brisk pace to the direction of Concord- could this dog read minds? 

Down the road, they found two giant mosquitoes. Lewis whimpered.

" _Bloody_ \- next you're going to tell me there are giant worms somewhere underground, ready to jump up and-" Lewis screamed as one of the bugs flew right at him, firing about ten shots blindly in the bug's direction. At least a few of them were hits, because it fell down, a pile of wings and blood. The dog had gotten the other one, and was sniffing away at some huge animal corpse. The corpse turned out to be a hairless, two-headed cow. Lewis laughed nervously. 

It wasn't a long jog through the ruins of Concord until he heard the gunfire, or the dog's loud bark. Slipping inside an old store of some sort, he pulled out his 10mm and looked down the street. There were some people dressed in bloody clothing, spikes on their mismatched armor. He didn't know if shooting them was the way to go, until the shepherd ran right up to the nearest one and practically tried to tear their leg off. 

"Alright, then." He took aim for the one in the dog's mouth, fired two shots and watched them topple to the ground. The next few were relatively easy, the dog immobilizing them quickly, and Lewis shooting them down quicker. At the end of it, the dog ran to the end of the street, which an old museum stood. Lewis almost cried, he had taken Nora here just weeks ago. Well, _years_ -

"Hey, up here! On the balcony!" Lewis looked up, not expecting a man in a big hat, with an even bigger glowing weapon. "I've got a group of settlers inside! The raiders are almost through the door! Grab that laser musket and help us, _please!_ " And the weird man disappeared. The dog ran to the doors, Lewis following. He grabbed the rusty musket off of a dead guy on the steps, along with the scattered fusion cells. Loading the musket and cranking the handle, he took a breath in and busted through the doors, aiming at the closest "raider" in sight. He breathed out, pulling the trigger and watching with satisfaction as the raider fell off a ledge.

After the first part of the museum was cleared, Lewis headed through the pathway on the right, almost jumping as a light flicked on at his presence. He tripped over too many manikins, and almost burned to death as he nearly ran straight into an explosion. Luckily, the fire took out the raider who threw it, and died down as quickly as it came.

The next room was pretty quiet, but contained a security gate and a locked terminal. Curiosity getting the better of him, he ended up hacking the terminal and nicking a pretty well-intact fusion core, which he stored in his pack. He continued up the stairs, and stopped when he heard two raiders in the next room. 

"I'm telling you man, _let's go._ There's no point in hanging around here to get shot."

"You're such a fucking _pansy_. We hold out for the others, like we're supposed to!" Getting bored, Lewis pulled out one of the frags from his pack, and threw it hard against the opposite wall, hoping it would reflect more into the room. 

"What the fu-" And a bang.

Lewis carried on, looting a bag of caps and some .45 bullets from them. The next raiders took him by surprise, one lodging a small knife into his shoulder. He managed to shoot them both, firing continuously until they were both down. He screamed in pain, the knife looking and _feeling_ a few inches deep into his flesh. In anger, he ripped off the gasmask of one of the raiders, and stomped their face in.

Running up the stairs, praying there weren't any more raiders, he was granted with a final room containing the non-hostile settlers. Not wanting to get shot as soon as entering, he knocked and yelled,

"I'm not a raider! Don't shoot! I'm coming in!" He stumbled through the door sideways, slamming it behind him. The weird man from before stepped up to him, and lowered his weapon slowly before actually recognizing Lewis. He looked like he was about to say something, but his eyes traveled to the knife, and his words were caught in his throat.

" _Oh_ \- gosh- Sturges, could you help him?" Lewis weakly smiled, and slid along the door until he was sitting down. Sturges, a muscly man in utility overalls and a dirty, once-white shirt crossed over to him, squatting down and looking over his arm. 

"Man, I ain't no medic, but I'm pretty sure that's not supposed to be in there. Now, I can get it out for ya, but I won't be able to close 'er up without a stimpack or two. Doesn't _look_ too deep, but with arms as skinny as yours..." He sighed, probably weighing his options.

"I- I have a few stims, in my pack here," He pushed himself off the wall and pulled the pack off his back, handing it to Sturges. Sturges opened it, eyes opening up a little. 

"Yep, this'll do the trick." He turned to the weird man, "You gotta piece of cloth? Scarf? Don't wanna ruin this man's perfect set o' teeth, here." Lewis blinked, licking his teeth subconsciously. He looked up to a twisted coat being handed to him, and took it slowly with one hand. "Preston, hold this," He took a stimpack from the bag, popped the cap off and waited for- Preston- to take it. "All set. Now, you're gonna want to bite down on that. Chipped teeth ain't fun." He added, and Lewis obeyed, placing the rolled leather in his mouth. Sturges nodded, and sat down on his knees next to Lewis. He placed one hand on Lewis' shoulder, keeping him in place, and the other hovered over the knife. 

"Ready?" Sturges asked, and Lewis became aware of the four other people in the room, staring at him. A man and a woman, sat close together, one whispering to the other, an old lady, with big hoop earrings and a tattered hat, and Preston, now seated close to Lewis' other side, holding the stimpack close to him. Lewis looked straight ahead, closed his eyes and nodded. This was not going to be pleasant. 

"On three, then. One, two, three-" A forceful tug at the knife in his arm, a loud shriek, and his vision brightened dramatically before he was out cold. 

 

 

A small squeeze and shake to his good shoulder, and a few wet licks to his cheek woke him up. He blinked his eyes open, smiling at the full face of the Shepherd, Preston's hand retreating. He looked to his arm, now throbbing in pain, but slowly ebbing away due to the stimpack or two. His suit was a little torn where the knife had been, and there was a tiny amount of blood stain, but otherwise it looked pretty clean. His jacket had been removed. He sighed, and looked up at Preston and Sturges. 

"Thank you, so much. I might've just left it in, had it not been for you." He said.

"You're welcome," Preston replied. The man sighed, and took off his hat, rubbing his forehead. "Man, I don't know who you are, but your timing's impeccable." He held out his hand, which Lewis stood up to shake. "Preston Garvey, Commonwealth minutemen." 

"Lewis Evans, glad to help." 

"Well, if that's true, we could use some more good will." He turned, and grabbed his musket off the table. "As you can see, we're in a bit of a mess here," He gestured around the room. 

"Right."

"A month ago, there were _twenty_ of us." Preston pushed his hat back on, "Yesterday, there were _eight!_ Now, we're five." He sighed, his tone going rough, "First the ghouls in Lexington, and now this mess!" 

_Ghouls? God, no._

"I'm sorry, that sounds awful. You have my best wishes," Lewis said it in a low volume, perhaps helping the intake. 

"Oh, thanks. It's nice to know there's someone out there who cares," Preston gave him a half-smile, though it looked genuine. "Anyway, we figured Concord would be a good place to settle. Those raiders sure proved us wrong, but we _do_ have an idea."

Lewis nodded encouragingly.

"Sturges?" Preston gestured to the beefy man, who was now fiddling with a terminal. The man turned with a smirk,

"There's a crashed vertibird on the roof. Old school; Pre-war. You might've seen it?" Lewis shrugged. "Well, looks like one of its passengers left behind a _seriously_ sweet goodie!" Sturges' smirk deepened into something shark-like, Lewis feeling more than a little anticipated. "We're talking a full suit of cherry T-45 power armor. _Military issue,_ " He added, nodding as if he succeeded in blowing everyone away. 

"I'm guessing that's where I come in?" Sturges chuckled at that.

"Yeah, if you're up for it. Get the suit, you can rip the minigun right off the vertibird. Do that, those raiders get an express ticket to hell. _That's_ where you come in. You dig?"

"Oh, sure. Those suits are practically indestructible anyways," Lewis agreed.

"I know, right? Only there's... one hitch. The suit's out of juice. We can power it up again, but we're a bit stuck. We need something to plug into it-"

"You mean a fusion core?" Lewis flung his pack around, pulling out the core and displaying it in front of him. "Got that," Preston and Sturges exchanged surprised smiles, which indeed made Lewis feel a tiny bit better. At least curiosity could still be a good thing.

"Well all right, Evans. Door's to your right. Good luck," Preston nodded, and turned to reload his gun. Lewis nodded back, and looked around the room for any supplies he could take. Noticing a RobcoFun magazine on the table, he grabbed it after asking Sturges, along with a cool bobble-head that he stored in his pack. He was just about to leave when the old lady held her hand out, and said in a rough, raspy voice,

"Careful out there, kid. There's something comin', and it's angry," She breathed. Lewis was taken aback. 

"What-"

"I see good in you, kid. A brighter future for us all, at your hand. You're going to walk a long, hard road, but we're going to need you alive to accomplish that," Lewis blinked at her, a little confused. "I _saw_ it," She added. 

"Could- could you tell me more?" He asked, very slowly.

"Look at me, acting the crazy old lady." She chuckled, and removed her had from in front of him. "It's the chems, you see. They give me "the Sight". Been that way since I was a girl." She offered a smile. She didn't answer his question, and being more than a little tired, Lewis lazily responded,

"That's incredible, ma'am."

"Go, kid. You got a job to do, don't let me take up your time." Lewis nodded, surprised at the sudden push-off. He was almost at the door when she called, "And don't let Dogmeat get hurt, hear me?" 

_Dogmeat's his name. Huh._

"Sure." And he continued through the door, a little puzzled on where to go, but finding the beautiful power armor in a minute. After letting out an appreciative whistle, and slipping a loose holotape and a tin of caps into his pack, he jammed the fusion core into the wheel of the power armor. He yanked the wheel to the left, shed his glasses and stepped in, one limb at a time. It took a minute to get used to, but the idea of power armor was all too familiar to him. He easily ripped the minigun from the Vertibird, smiling as someone shot at him, the bullet reflecting off of his armor. He decided not to waste the ammo on the raiders, thinking of what the old lady said to him before he left. 

_There's something comin', and it's angry..._

  
It had actually been a little fun, taking down the raiders with Preston at night, on the balcony where it was less likely to be shot, Dogmeat getting the ones on the street. Lewis was becoming all the more tired, though adrenaline kept him going for the time being. He had thought he had taken down every enemy in sight with just 17 cells and a rusty musket, because every red dot on the power armor stat screen had gone out. He was about to call a victory to Preston, to get out of the humid suit and go down to see if Dogmeat was okay. But no, never something simple in this world. _Never._ First the giant roaches, yeah okay, easy to deal with. Giant flies? Scarier, still just as easily killed. Giant mosquitoes? Disgusting, terrifying, hard to shoot at, but also easy to get down after a shot or two. _Gargantuan, heavily mutated, blood-thirsty lizards with claws the size of hockey sticks?_ Where is the line that was supposed to be drawn? When did it end?

" _What the blithering fuck is that?_ " Lewis yelled to Preston, as a great, monstrous cry from below rattled his armor, and a huge, clawed hand erupted from a sewer plate. 

"Deathclaw!" Was the answer. 

 _Deathclaw_. Of course, it had to have a scary name, too. 

Once the monster had fully clambered out of the sewer, Dogmeat let out a loud wail. The Deathclaw turned in the direction of the museum, spotted its prey, and began lumbering over, swatting cars to the side of the street, squashing dead raiders to bits and gaining speed. Lewis was glued to the spot, less in fear for his life, but for Dogmeat's. It wasn't until Preston had yelled and the Deathclaw had raised one mighty hand to deal a lethal blow to the dog that Lewis came to, and shrieked as loud as his lungs would let and leaped off of the museum, minigun in hand and heart pulsing. He landed right next to the lizard, which stopped in its tracks and turned to face Lewis, allowing Dogmeat to dart through its legs.

" _FUCK THIS WASTELAND! THAT'S MY DOG!_ " 

Lewis was then rapidly spewing lead into the Deathclaw's face, belly and neck, not aiming much due to the weight of the gun. He was screaming, screaming with anger, sadness, happiness, every emotion he needed out, either shrieked at or shot into the Deathclaw. He thought of Nora then, of Shaun, of the raider who _stabbed his fucking shoulder_. He thought of Preston, of how kind he and Sturges were to him, a stranger who had only shot a few of their enemies. He thought of the sadness they must feel, of the anger Preston let off when he talked about his loses. He thought about the bombs, the Vault, the change in the world, the man who fucking killed Nora. It was that last thought that apparently brought the Deathclaw down, disfigured and full of small bullets, a repulsive, bloody mess done by built up emotions. Lewis dropped the minigun after the Deathclaw dropped itself, and saw the corners of his eyes cloud with darkness. He was panting. He looked to Dogmeat, and registered him lying by the museum doors, all right but worn out. He looked up to the lower balcony where Preston stood, probably astonished at the sight that had just played out before him. Lewis felt the exhaustion then, _all_ of it, making his limbs go limp and his head to roll back, his vision darkened and gasping for one gulp of air. He allowed his eyes to close, and drifted off to a well-deserved rest.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> yeah i edited it


End file.
